Tuesday, 19 January 2010

POLENTA AND SAUSAGES

Here’s my favourite winter recipe: polenta and sausages or “pulenta e sausissa” as they say in my area. I am pretty sure you know polenta already, as it has become fairly popular even outside Italy. Essentially it is corn flour and water. Add cheese and sausages and it becomes one of the most delicious meals ever. It is a typical northern Italian winter recipe, but I love it so much that I can even eat it in August when outside it is 30°C! If you go skiing in the Alps you can’t miss it, if you are staying home you can try to make it yourself. Not to mention that it is a very cheap and filling meal for the whole family. Also children will love it.

Ah, the pic was made on New Year’s Eve, up in the mountains of Vallée d’Aoste where I spent the last day of the year with my best friend! Very nice, uhm….

In a medium saucepan bring to boil the salted water. Remove it from the heat, slowly pour the corn flour and stir quickly with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps. Replace the saucepan on the heat and keep stirring for 40 minutes or, if you choose the pre-cooked one, for few more minutes. I normally use the pre-cooked polenta because it saves lot of time and the taste is still reasonably good. If you want to obtain a ticker polenta add more flour or on the contrary, if you want a more fluid polenta add more water. While stirring add some cheese of your choice (the best it would be “Fontina”) and a bit of butter to make a creamy polenta.
Pierce sausages with a toothpick and fry them for 5/6 minutes allowing the juices coming out. In the meantime heat the oil in a saucepan and fry lightly a mix of onion, carrot and celery. After few minute, when golden brown, add in the tomato sauce, salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes. Finally add the sausages and cook it for extra 10 minutes. Add some water if the sauce becomes too thick.
Serve with full bodied red wine